Ainge: No Augustin Talks; Small Tweak Possible

“We haven’t had any discussions with Charlotte,” said Ainge. “There was some speculation that they were looking for a 4, we were looking for a backup point [guard]. People try to put things together. We have not had discussions. I like the player in the trade [Augustin], but we like Glen Davis a lot, too.”

That is a strong, categorical denial. That’s not Ainge saying he personally hasn’t had discussions with Charlotte, leaving the door open that someone else in the front office may have. That’s Ainge saying no one from Boston, to his knowledge, has discussed Augustin-Davis.

Again: Take everything you hear in the press during the approach of the trade deadline with a huge pile of salt. But this is a clear statement.

Also:

“We’re going to try to do something. I feel like we need to do something. It might be something very small — tweak the personality of our team.”

Later Ainge added: “I’ll know more by this time next week, if there’s anything we can do to win better this year and still not hurt us down the road. So I’m exploring, those are the only kind of deals I’d consider doing right now. Right now, I’m not ready to blow it up. [Maybe] if there was a very intriguing young player, but those are not available.”

I’ve been saying for a while now that the only deal I consider likely is a deal on the margins involving Boston sending a couple of expiring deals for a mid-level player such as John Salmons.

Should we read much into Ainge hedging on the possibility of “blowing it up”—the bit when he says that “maybe” he’d take that step if there were an intriguing young player available? I’m not sure. You know how these radio interviews are. They are fast-paced and free-flowing, and Ainge responds to the questions put to him.

I wouldn’t read much into it.

Update: Here’s the transcript of that section of the interview via WEEI.com:

It seems that the only way you would make a big trade is if you come to the conclusion that you can’t win it this year. Is that fair?

I don’t think that it’s that simple. I’ll know more by this time next week if there’s anything that we can do to give us a chance to win better this year, and still not hurt us down the road. I’m exploring. Those are the only kind of deals I would consider right now. I’m not ready to blow it up. Now, if it was a very intriguing young player then that’s a whole different story, but those aren’t available.

Sounds like a deal in that case is something he’d consider, but doesn’t actually state he’d make a deal. And who qualifies as an “intriguing young player” in his definition?

al

how bout jared jefferies? superb defender, allows them to go small if KG comes back to form

I love Green

@al- i hope you mean one of our bench players like Scal for jared. Not a Ray allen, or even a tony allen.

Shane Troy

To Al,
Jared Jefferies won’t happen, he gets paid 6 mil. this year and 7 mil. next year, and Danny has stressed his reluctance to take on bad contracts. If he was willing to, we would have gotten Andres Nocioni at the deadline last year, and personally I think the Celtics would rather trade for him over Jefferies this year, because Nocioni can actually play good defense and has an offensive arsenal that doesn’t include sitting in the corner picking his nose for 42 minutes straight.

Idaho

Zach,
I am not going to lie. I am glad trades are so logistically/financially difficult. The last thing I want to see is the NBA turn into the MLB. That is why baseball has tanked no question whatsoever.

BTW,
Nice dig on the Augustin quote a couple blogs back, I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up.